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Help me out here America.

I love the USA, love it. I’ve been fantasizing with the idea for a while now of moving back there one day. I would love to raise my daughter in the “land of opportunity”, “where dreams are made”, there is one problem however, I don’t know if I could raise my daughter in a country where guns are so easily accessible. Now, I’ll be honest, I’m a little ignorant on this issue, I’m trying to understand but what I see/hear on the news; terror stories of people/children being gunned down by people who are ill or have, for whatever reason, decided to take their frustrations out on the innocent, using assault weapons they have bought with little or no questions asked, stolen or borrowed, had access to nonetheless, and it shocks me to my core.

The question I want to ask is this; doesn’t it just take a little common sense to control this thing? (If only it were that easy, eh??) Can’t you just put more stringent legislation in place for people who need to own a gun? Why would that be such a big infringement of civil liberties? I watched all of the Piers Morgan interviews and I honestly can’t disagree with any of his arguments. When he interviewed gun advocate, Alex Jones, or the GOA’s Larry Pratt, I listened with an open mind, trying to find some sense in their arguments, but both of their arguments for guns seemed far fetched, unreasonable, ridiculous in part, to me. I don’t want to come across as a “haughty English tourist” but I honestly don’t understand America’s love affair with the gun, and I don’t know if I ever will. I wasn’t brought up in a country where guns are legal. They’re not part of our culture in the UK. For most American’s guns are deeply ingrained in their culture…I see that, I don’t understand but I see, but when tragedy happens, people need to adapt….right?

So, help me understand America, I don’t want to be in the dark anymore….

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3 thoughts on “Help me out here America.”

Hello Louise! I live in St. Louis and can shed some light on the US (even tho I know you lived her for a while). I am extremely liberal and don’t understand the gun culture here completely, but I shall try. As you know we pretty much have two parties; Democrat and Republican. Those are the only two that are voted in office other than the occasional independent. It is pretty hard to not bring up American politics when talking about gun control. Most Democrats agree about gun control. I myself would love to see bans that are in place in many countries. Now, most Republicans are not in favor of gun control, however they are a party divided by many things. Being from the Midwest I know many people who love guns, they love them so much they verge on the extreme. I think the word extreme is pretty much a perfect word to explain the landscape in the US. While Europe may have their occasional loon, here it seems very intertwined with religion sadly. It makes no sense to me, but a lot of Christian extremist live in the US and being extremists they have theories that scare me. They don’t like our President for various reasons beyond politics, like that he isn’t white. I don’t know how much coverage it got in the UK but many people don’t believe he was born in Hawaii. This all ties into gun control. If you don’t respect the President, you certainly aren’t going to respect his views on anything. Many casual gun owners are unhappy because they want to be able to protect themselves from danger. Extremist gun owners collect many dangerous weapons because they think Obama is going to take over this country. Mental health here still has a stigma on it and it is not cheap, since we pay for healthcare out of pocket, a lot of people don’t get treated. Don’t get me wrong, I love the US, but while you are looking to possibly move back one day, I want to leave the States. People here don’t want to give up their guns, they love them. They don’t seem to understand that the Second Amendment was written when muskets were around. That is really all I have about gun control.

It is unfair to place my views on every city, but lets just say some are segregated and the South is still very racist. I know I’m getting away from guns but I think these other things are important too. Unless you live in a progressive area, which tends to cost more to live in, then you may not be in the most diverse and open minded place. I personally seek diversity, hence me wanting to leave St. Louis. It is one of the most segregated cities. I would want my child to be around people of all background and colors, you won’t find that here. Also, major cities tend to have gang violence. Like I said the ones that don’t cost more to live in. San Diego, San Francisco, NYC, Boston and Chicago are all more diverse and more costly. I’m sure there are small cities that are nice too, but the US is so big. The tragedy you spoke of happened in a nice small town, so violence is very common here. I think I’m rambling now, but I hope it made some sense. I’m rushing because I have to go, so I can post more later.

I wouldn’t say, don’t move here ever, but there are a lot of things to consider; healthcare costs, the job market, gun control, extremists, only having two parties to vote on, laws being controlled by religion, segregation and so on. I think the best thing to do is to really research a place and make a list of cities that appeal to you. If you want to live somewhere nice the previous cities I mentioned are great, especially the suburbs there. I would look at smaller town on the coasts too. Other than Chicago the Midwest is fairly boring and riddled with violence in the major cities. I hope this sheds some light on the American culture. Please feel free to ask me any questions. I am a very open minded person.

sooooo i am pretty on the fence about this issue. on the one hand if all the batshit crazy americans are stockpiling guns then i feel as one of the halfway sane ones i should have access to a gun to protect myself. but i grew up around guns and you grew up where you cant talk about the pope in certain bars. Lol. that being said i have told NUMEROUS people that our country and some of the tragedies that happen in it are ridiculous. people think europe is dangerous? you may get a bottle broken over your head in your lifetime and harrassed on the streets by teens but you NEVER hear about some wackjob european going to a school full of kids and shooting a classroom full of 6 year olds. you are talking about raising little miss in 2 completely different cultures. and i will point out a little teeny weanie fact, most rednecks own guns 🙂 and by the way i usually share the same opinion as piers morgan too. you should come live over here though! you are scrappy and you can defend your family with your massive natural guns and your fists of fury. love you!

Comment left by Sarah:
The thing about America is that what makes it awesome is also what makes it awful. For me the defining aspect of American culture is it’s emphasis on the individual. This has some great aspects: creativity, original ideas, freedom of speech and expression is embraced, everyone is encouraged to figure out what makes them special and truly believes that once they figure that out success and happiness will follow. On the flip side of that is that America often values the rights and liberties of the individual over the rights and freedoms of society as a whole: health care (I’m in good health why should I have to pay to care for someone else?) gun control (I like to hunt and want to protect myself, why should I give up that freedom ’cause some crazies shot some people?) taxes (I earned my 8 trillion dollars fair and square why should I have to give it away?) the list and the rationalizations go on… so what makes the US a great place to start a business or live the “American dream” or whatever, is also what makes it a crappy place to be a member of society sometimes. I find Europe (France in particular) to be the inverse – the rights and values of the society as a whole are prioritized sometimes to the detriment of individual freedoms – eg employment laws that are so protective of workers rights that few businesses actually want to hire anybody, or silly laws that dictate what kind of swimwear you can and can’t wear at a public pool with the justification that it’s a public health issue… Anyway rambling now, but while I’m totally in favor of gun control, I’m not convinced that it will happen for the reasons above.